Former Prisoners Applaud Program to Help Inmates Go to College

Patrick Semansky—APInmate Alphonso Coats, a participant in the Goucher College Prison Education Partnership, sits in a discussion with Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and other officials inside the Maryland Correctional Institution-Jessup on July 31, 2015, in Jessup, Md.

Glenn Martin knows exactly the kind of difference getting an education can make for a person behind bars. When Martin was 23, he was sentenced to six years in prison for robbery. That time, he told TIME on Friday, was arguably the lowest point in his life.

But a meeting he had with a correction’s officer during his early days behind bars in state prison in New York changed his life. After reviewing his file, the officer suggested that he consider advancing his education and enrolling in college courses.

“That was the first time anyone had ever said to me ‘you should go to college,’” Martin says. “I grew up in [the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn]. I distinctly remember people saying the opposite to me.”

While in prison, Martin was able to earn his associate’s degree through a prison education program called the Consortium of the Niagara Frontier, one of New York’s oldest post-secondary correctional education programs. It was in that program that Martin says he was able to consider all of the possibilities that lie ahead of him in life.

“I started to think of myself differently,” Martin says. “I saw hope beyond being in that prison for six years.”

Now, at 43, Martin serves as the president of Just Leadership USA, an organization aimed at significantly reducing the incarceration rate nationwide by 2030. And it was in that role that Martin was invited to attend an event at a prison in Maryland on Friday, where he participated in a roundtable discussion with the U.S. Attorney General and the Secretary of Education.

As TIME reported earlier this week, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan traveled to the Maryland Correctional Institution at Jessup to announce that the administration would temporarily grant incarcerated individuals access to federal aid that can help them pay for college. The experimental initiative reverses a 1994 law that blocked state and federal prisoners’ access to Pell Grants which critics say hurt their chances to start over.

The research on the topic of institutional education is clear: according to a 2013 study by the RAND Corporation funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, prisoners who took educational courses behind bars were 43% less likely to return to prison in three years than those who did not. With about 1.5 million Americans behind bars, changing the Pell Grant system could have a major effect.

“America is a nation of second chances. Giving people who have made mistakes in their lives a chance to get back on track and become contributing members of society is fundamental to who we are,” Duncan said in a statement.

Through the pilot program, prisoners who are eligible for release within the next five years and otherwise meet the requirements for federal aid could have access to grants to pay for tuition, fees, books, and supplies. Though the program is limited to Pell Grants and does not apply to any other type of aid, those who work in education are hopeful.

Vivian Nixon, the executive director of the College and Community Fellowship an organization that helps formerly incarcerated women get an education, didn’t have a chance to get an education while she was behind bars. When she was in her mid-thirties, Nixon was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for a series of white-collar crimes.

The possibility of being able to further her education while incarcerated gave Nixon hope, but those dreams were dashed when she was transferred to a prison that didn’t offer any post-secondary education courses. After suffering bouts of hopelessness and depression, Nixon started tutoring other women working toward their GED behind bars. Over the past decade and a half, she’s made it her mission to get the federal government to make it easier for prisoners to get an education.

“Education is transformative,” Nixon says. “When people are educated it opens up a whole set of different choices and without the kind of knowledge or confidence that education brings you can easily slip back into the old habits that landed you in prison.”

For Nixon and Martin, who collaborated to form the Education from the Inside Out Coaltion, an organization that aims to increase educational opportunities for prisoners, Friday was a special day. Both of them saw their handwork come to fruition firsthand.

“For [decades] we’ve dealt with this issue in ways that make for good politics, but bad policy,” Martin said. “This is an opportunity to undo some of that.”

Protesters had been attempting to block an icebreaking vessel from leaving Portland to go to the Arctic for oil drilling

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An controversial oil ship managed to sail past a group of Greenpeace protesters hanging from a bridge in Portland after police and Coast Guard officers forced the activists from the area.

The protesters had gathered to block a Royal Dutch Shell icebreaking vessel from leaving the area to head to a oil drilling site in the Arctic. Environmental activists had suspended themselves from the St. Johns bridge and formed a line of kayaks along the Willamette River in an effort to block the ship from leaving the city, but the ship, named Fennica, managed to slip through a gap in the dangling protesters just before 6:00 p.m. Pacific time.

For about six hours, according to localoutlets, there was relative quiet. But Thursday afternoon, the Coast Guard and local officials began insisting that the protesters move.

Activists dangling. Police removed support people on bridge. Huge law enforcement presence in water plus kayactivists pic.twitter.com/vqYGdNH67y

According to OregonLive, which hosted a liveblog of the protest, officials at one point attempted to grab kayakers—called “kayaktivists” by organizers”—using boat hooks. Some of the activists who had situated themselves in slings underneath the bridge left voluntarily, but others were still dangling from it at about 6 p.m. local time.

Earlier on Thursday, activists were involved in a standoff with the vessel and the Coast Guard during which they temporarily blocked the ship from leaving dock. According to Oregon Public Broadcasting, protesters cheered and declared victor when the vessel turned around. A judge on Thursday fined Greenpeace USA $2,500 for every hour that protesters blocked the vessel from passing through.

President Obama told grassroots organizers on a conference call Thursday to “get moving” on efforts to make their support for the Iran deal known to members of Congress.

“You guys have to get more active and loud and involved and informed,” Obama said on conference call Thursday.

Obama challenged the organizers to take an approach opposite what organizers took when Congress was mulling whether or not to authorize the Iraq War. His frustration with that effort, he said, was in the fact that everyone got “loud and active when it was too late.”

As Congress leaves for its summer recess, the Iran Deal will likely be a major topic of discussion at town halls and meetings in their districts

Obama’s strategy hit home with at least one organizer on the call, who spoke to TIME shortly after it ended.

“The still-raw memories of the Iraq war are the single motivating factor for those of us who are pushing for the deal,” says Ben Wikler, the Washington Director for MoveOn.org, who joined the call Thursday. MoveOn.org was one of the most active groups calling for diplomacy, not war in Iraq following the September 11 terrorist attacks.

According to the White House a wide-cross section of progressive groups were invited to join the call. At the outset, Obama thanked groups including MoveOn.org, the Truman National Security Project, and Organizing for Action for their support thus far on the nuclear deal with Iran. Wikler said it was “heartening” to hear directly from the President and to know that the White House is “pulling out all the stops” to ensure that the diplomatic agreement over Iran’s nuclear program comes into fruition.

“It makes all the difference in the world if you’re calling Congress, and attending town halls to know that there are people on your side,” Wikler says.

Wikler compared the tone of the call to one that could be experienced during an election season—Obama was forceful, direct, and adamant that the his bully pulpit alone won’t see the deal through a skeptical Congress. Wikler says his organization has a similar sense of urgency around the deal, which he says is their “overriding priority” leading up to the vote.

Thursday’s call made clear that the White House is leaving nothing on the table in its effort to garner support for the historic deal over Iran’s nuclear program. Members of the Obama administration have been actively lobbying Congress over the pending deal since it was announced on July 14. Cabinet members are making regular appearances on Capitol Hill and just Wednesday a group of House Democrats attended a working reception at the White House where the Iran deal was discussed.

Despite the White House efforts, opponents of the deal remain relentless in their efforts to block it and a hefty coalition of Congressional leaders are insistent upon keeping it from passing. Congress was given 60 days to either approve or reject the deal, though Obama has said he would veto any attempt to block it.

Former University of Cincinnati Cop Pays Bond And Is Released From Jail

John Minchillo—APFormer University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing appears at Hamilton County Courthouse for his arraignment in the shooting death of motorist Samuel DuBose on July 30, 2015, in Cincinnati.

Former university police officer Ray Tensing reportedly left the jail Thursday evening

The former University of Cincinnati police officer charged in the shooting death of an unarmed black man is out of jail on bond.

Ray Tensing posted 10 percent of his $1 million bail—just over $100,000—on Thursday evening, according to the Hamilton County Clerk’s office, not long after pleading not guilty to murder and involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of 43-year-old Sam DuBose.

Representatives from the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department told the Cincinnati television station WCPO that the 25-year-old officer left the jail at about 6:45 p.m. on Thursday. TIME could not immediately reach the office for comment. Tensing’s lawyer, Stewart Mathews, said Thursday that people across the United States were offering to help pay Tensing’s bond.

The former campus cop was indicted Wednesday in the shooting death of DuBose, who the officer said he was “forced to shoot” in an initial report that alleged the unarmed man had attempted to run the officer over after failing to meet the officer’s request to produce his license.

The local prosecutor, however, felt a recently released body-camera video told a different story. In it, the officer can be seen shooting DuBose in the head and then falling backward. The Hamilton County prosecutor called the shooting the “most asinine act that I’ve ever seen a police officer make.”

Tensing’s lawyer maintains that there are “two sides” to the story. “The case will be tried and decided in court,” Mathews said.

DuBose is one of 669 people who have been killed by police so far in 2015, according to a database by the Guardian newspaper, and 175 of those killed have been black.

The American Psychological Association is reportedly considering a new ethics policy that could prohibit psychologists from helping to question terror suspects

The New York Times reports the board of the American Psychological Association is considering a new ethics policy that would effectively prohibit psychologists from assisting in all national security investigations. A decision on whether or not the group will approve the policy could come as soon as next week.

The potential ban would come in the wake of a report that purported to detail how APA officials worked in collaboration with the Bush Administration to carry out and justify the government’s controversial interrogation program. According to the Times, the change in policy could hinder the Obama administration’s ability to hold and question some individuals suspected of terrorism.

Donald Trump Promises to be ‘Nice’ at GOP Debate

Scott Heppell—APPresidential contender Donald Trump looks on at the 16th green on the 1st first day of the Women's British Open golf championship on the Turnberry golf course in Turnberry, Scotland on July 30, 2015.

"It is certainly my intention to be very nice & highly respectful of the other candidates," Trump tweeted Thursday

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump promises he’ll play nice at next week’s debate. The business mogul tweeted Thursday that he is looking forward to the debate that will feature the 10 candidates with the highest average across national polls. The latest Quinnipiac poll showed Trump leading the pack among Republican presidential contenders.

I look forward to the debate on Thursday night & it is certainly my intention to be very nice & highly respectful of the other candidates.

Though Trump promises to keep things civil, as TIME’s Zeke Miller and Philip Elliott reported Thursday, Republican campaigns are mulling what tactics they’ll deploy when their candidates face off against the bombastic businessman next Thursday.

“It’s drilling down and getting into specifics of policy,” one strategist told them. “You can show that not only the emperor has no clothes—the candidate has no answers.”

Activists Release Fourth Planned Parenthood Video

The video shows a Colorado-based doctor

A group of anti-abortion activists released another video featuring a Planned Parenthood representative talking about fetal tissue donations.

The fourth video released by the Center for Medical Progress shows Colorado-based Dr. Savita Ginde discussing and later demonstrating the procurement of fetal tissue. In the video,which was secretly recorded, Ginde can also be seen discussing reimbursement costs.

A Los Angeles court had issued a temporary restraining order against the group from releasing any further footage surreptitiously taken of officials with a California company, but the new video was recorded in Colorado and is not affected by that order.

The video was produced in an the same vein as three others released by the group which claim Planned Parenthood is involved in the illegal sale of fetal tissue. Planned Parenthood, however, has repeatedly denied that is the case. In an op-ed for the Washington Post Wednesday responding to the other videos, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards apologized for the tone used by employees featured in them, but said they show nothing illegal.

“While predictably these videos do not show anything illegal on Planned Parenthood’s part, medical and scientific conversations can be upsetting to hear, and I immediately apologized for the tone that was used, which did not reflect the compassion that people have come to know and expect from Planned Parenthood,” Richards wrote.

The release of the video came Thursday as the Senate sought to vote to defund the medical services provider, though the measure is unlikely to pass a key legislative hurdle.

Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton may agree with Republicans that recent undercover videos taken of Planned Parenthood employees are disturbing, but she disagrees with what they want to do next.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with AFL-CIO leaders in Silver Spring, Maryland, Clinton said the organization has “provided essential service for women in our country” for more than a century.

“I think it is regrettable that Republicans are once again trying to undermine, even end those services that so many women have needed and taken advantage of,” she said. “I think that it’s another effort by the Republicans to try to limit the health care options of women and we should not let them succeed once again.”

The Center for Medical Progress released several secretly recorded videos this month showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing fetal tissue extraction and the costs involved. Republicans have alleged that the videos show the organization is illegally selling fetal parts and called for publicly defunding the group. Planned Parenthood has defended itself, saying it only receives reimbursements for associated costs, which is allowed.

Eighteen House Republicans have already said they will not support any government funding resolutions this fall that contain any funding for Planned Parenthood. Under the long-standing Hyde Amendment, none of the federal money that goes to Planned Parenthood can be spent on abortions.

On Tuesday, Clinton told the New Hampshire Union Leader that she had seen pictures from the videos and found them “disturbing,” adding that they raise broader questions about the process of fetal tissue donation.

The bodies were buried in the 17th century

Scientists used technology to identify the remains of four early residents of Jamestown, Va., the first permanent English settlement in what would become the United States.

The Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation at Historic Jamestowne and the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History announced on Tuesday that the settlers lived—and held high positions—in early English America as far back at 1608. About 100 people settled along the James River in what would become the first English settlement in 1607. The colony, however, was nearly wiped out due to conflict—with Native Americans in the area and with each other—as well as famine and disease. Among the identified remains were those of Rev. Robert Hunt, Jamestown’s first Anglican minister, and Captain Gabriel Archer, a leader among the early settlers and a rival of Captain John Smith. The remaining two, Sir Ferdinando Wainman and Captian William West, were relatives of the governor Lorde De La Warr.

Archeologists with Jamestown Rediscovery have been working to identify the remains since they were found in November of 2013. Scientists from both the Smithsonian and the Rediscovery Foundation examined artifacts from the graves, forensic evidence and technology like CT scans to determine who they were. (There’s a video explaining how here, on their website.) The discovery of the burial site, however, dates back to 2010 when Jamestown Rediscovery uncovered what the organization says is the earliest known Protestant Church in North America. Within that church— in the chancel, considered the holiest part of the building—scientists found the four burial sites that held the remains of these early settlers.

“This is an extraordinary discovery, one of the most important of recent times,” said James Horn, President of the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation, in a press release. “These men were among the first founders of English America. They lived and died at a critical time in the history of the settlement — when Jamestown was on the brink of failure owing to food shortages, disease, and conflict with powerful local Indian peoples, the Powhatans.”

The church they were buried in is significant, too. According to Jamestown Rediscovery, Pocahontas and John Rolfe were married there.